It was the second year in a row, the Eagles got the better of Maitland in the grand final, however, Bolch believes the Magpies have assembled a squad which will take them back to the top of the table next season.

"I think realistically our grand final was against Olympic, that was our best game. We scraped through against Magic," Bolch said.

"They probably should have had it wrapped up at half-time but we showed real courage and kept ourselves in the game repeatedly to get the result.

"We had two chances on the weekend, Woodsy's and one that hit the crossbar.

"They dominated general play and were probably a bit lucky with the one they got, but you have to accept those things in football."

The contentious winner came in the 81st minute - Jose Atayde scoring when the ball landed his way after teammate Dylan Holz jumped with Magpies keeper Matt Trott and the ball spilled from Trott's hands.

"They were looking a lot fresher than us and dominated large periods of the game, but it's disappointing all the same," Magpies skipper Carl Thorton said.

"We had a tremendous run to make the grand final and I think it probably caught up with us at the end. Blokes were out on their legs but kept on pushing."

The Magpies almost sent the game into overtime, but Edgeworth's star defender Josh Evans was on hand to clear the ball from the goal line.

Bolch said the Magpies had signed a host of exciting young talent with plenty of speed to take them the next step in 2020.

Maitland also welcome back utility Alex Read who played such a pivotal role in their 2019 premiership and FFA Cup campaign.

Missing in 2021 will be keeper Matt Trot and Andrew Swan who are both retiring, striker Joel Wood who is moving to Valentine, and defender Tommy Davies who is heading back to his original club Newcastle Olympic.

"We've signed all our squad bar those four players who are either leaving or retiring," Bolch said.

"Bar Ready, the rest of them are all under-23. I wanted to get that young freshness and fitness back into the squad."

Former player Chris Fayers is back after being forced to sit out 2020 because he wasn't granted a transfer from the Malayan club he had signed for. Central coast defender Adam Blunden will also return after his season was cut short by Covid and work commitments.

"Chris will be chomping at the bit after not being able to play this season and I think everyone was really impressed by what we saw of Adam in the trials he played for us," Bolch said.

Goal keeper Lachlan Watson joins the squad from Broadmeadow Magic. Another signing from Magic is Ty Cousins, a forward half player who came off the bench with an impact in several games.

Charlie Cox, who grew up in Maitland and played with Sydney Hakoah in the Sydney NPL 2 competition last season also joins the Magpies along with Joe Melmeth from Edgeworth and Ty Paulson from Lake Macquarie.